Kate, Margaret, Helen, and Sarah were invited to their teacher’s house, Mrs. Frist’s, for lunch. Kate had dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, a round face, and was very kind. Margaret had black hair, an oval face, bright light blue eyes, and was full of jokes. Helen had light brown hair, a round face, dark blue eyes, and had a very dramatic personality. Sarah had an oval face, blonde hair, bright green eyes, and enjoyed doing girly stuff. When the best friends found the invitations in their mailboxes, they called each other right away.
“Margaret, Helen, Sarah, I just got an invitation from Mrs. Frist!” said Kate.
“Me too!” cried Margaret.
“Really? Me three!” said Helen.
“I suppose you got one too Sarah?”
“How did you know?” said Sarah sarcastically.
Suddenly Helen shrieked.
“What is it?” asked Kate.
“We go on Saturday!” said Helen dramatically.
“Oh brother,” said Sarah. Kate thought she might be rolling her eyes over the phone.
“Well at least it’s just for lunch,” said Kate, “but if she asks us to stay for a little while, we will politely stay for a little bit longer. When we want to go this is what we will say: ‘We really must be going.’ When we leave let’s shake hands. Okay?”
Everyone agreed.
“Good.”
On Saturday, everyone met at Margaret’s house.
“Everyone ready?” asked Helen.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “It’s not like she’s planning to trap us in her cellar with ghosts!”
“You never know!” said Helen.
“I’m just saying!” said Sarah.
“You never know if she has ghosts or if her house is spooky and cold or welcoming and warm or if she has ghosts or pets,” said Helen.
“Didn’t she say she has a two year old daughter?” said Kate.
“Yes she did!” said Margaret.
“Then that means . . .” started Helen.
“She has a husband,” finished Sarah.
“If she has a daughter and husband her house must be welcoming!” said Kate.
“You never know!” said Helen once more with another roll of Sarah’s eyes.
The girls kept on walking until they came to an old-looking house. It had brown pieces of wood that were breaking apart, and the roof was all crooked. It was only 11:30 in the morning but it felt like midnight at the sight of the old house. Helen gave Sarah the “what did I tell you” look and Sarah rolled her eyes again. They went up to the beat-up, crooked porch and Kate rang the old-fashioned doorbell. It rang with a buzz. They politely wiped their feet on the unswept doormat. A handsome looking man came up and answered the door. Kate, Sarah, and Margaret looked carefully at his hands. There was a wedding ring on his left hand. “You must be Kate, Helen, Margaret, and Sarah! Oh, my wife has told me so much about you! Come in! Come in!”
They shook hands and stepped in as he held the door open wider. The house was so much different on the outside than the inside. There was a fireplace with two red, comfy armchairs and just enough space in between for a person to squeeze through. In the space sat a little girl in a purple dress with cookie crumbs stuck to her face. The girl was playing with an old rag doll. On the mantel place there were a few photos and a vase in the middle. To the left there were two picture frames. The first one was a picture of Mrs. Frist and her husband getting married. The next one had a picture of her daughter being born. Then there was a tall, gold vase holding daises, roses, poppies, and sunflowers. Then there was another picture of her daughter’s first steps at 8 months old. The last picture was a family picture at a studio. They walked to the left of the room where there was a brown easy chair and two sofas surrounding a coffee table. To the right of the room there was a couch facing the side of one of the armchairs.
“This is a lovely living room!” said Kate politely.
Mrs. Frist walked into the room. “Why, thank you!”
Mrs. Frist was holding two kittens that looked like newborns. Their eyes were still closed. One of the kittens was all black and the other one was gray with tiny, thin, black stripes.
“What are their names?” asked Sarah.
“The black one is Sweetpea. The other one is Shadow.”
Suddenly another cat walked in. It was the mother. The mother cat was a tabby cat. It rubbed against their teacher’s legs and purred.
“May we pet her?” asked Margaret.
“Of course! Her name is Tiger”
Margaret and Helen knelt down to pet Tiger.
“Would you girls please follow me?” asked Mrs. Frist.
“Why?! Where are you taking us?!” shouted Helen as she stood up very quickly. Tiger hissed at her.
Sarah closed her eyes, put her hand on her face, and shook her head. Kate looked humiliated, and Margaret gasped.
Mrs. Frist was shocked. “I am only taking you to the dining room for our supper!”
Helen blushed furiously, and her ears turned bright pink.
They walked to the dining room after the event was over. Mrs. Frist served tiny tea sandwiches, tea, cookies, and chocolate mousse pudding on a big, shiny, silver platter. Everyone ate quietly until Sarah broke the silence.
“Mrs. Frist? How long have you been married?”
“For fifteen years.”
“Do you ever feel lonely with just you and your daughter when your husband is at work?”
“Sometimes. But, I have Tiger, and now Sweetpea, and Shadow. I also have my daughter Samantha.”
Margaret fidgeted uncomfortably for ten minutes straight.
“Margaret! What ever is the matter with you?” asked Kate whispering to be polite.
“I need to use the bathroom!” she whispered back.
“Excuse me,” said Kate. “Could you please show my friend to the bathroom?”
“Of course! Follow me!”
“Don’t do it Margaret! She’ll take you to the cellar and . . .”
Kate covered her mouth so that she didn’t talk about ghosts again.
When Margaret came back, Kate began to speak. “We really must be going now! Thank you for everything.”
They pet Tiger and shook hands with everyone. Then everybody hugged Samantha.
When they came out Kate said, “Honestly Helen! Why did you scream like that and try to make Margaret believe she was taking her to the cellar!?”
“Because she would! She just heard me, so she didn’t take Margaret there to feed her to real tigers and get spooked out by ghosts!”
“But she does not have a cellar!”
“Huh?”
“I was trying to tell you before but you wouldn’t listen! I was there one time! She invited me to lunch! But you and everyone else were on vacation! She took me for a tour around the house! She only had an attic! And SHE DID NOT HAVE A CELLAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Kate screamed so loud that everyone practically jumped two feet in the air and all the birds flew out of their nests.
They all walked home and everyone, including Helen, knew that Mrs. Frist was just another normal person.
The End
